Who was the best secondary member of the Original nWo incarnation?

[TEIWCSCSAATBHPHASP]

This is about the following members of the original nWo incarnation who were either simply role players, stop gaps or realistically second tier semi-stars, adding up to the fact that they would be considered the possible weakest everyday main event top draw. History over the course of the nWo-era WCW has proven that Hollywood Hulk Hogan, "Big Sexy" Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and "The Macho Man" Randy Savage were all regarded as the nWo's most prominent key players alongside a prominent mouthpiece in Eric Bischoff, even though the nWo was originally supposed to have Ted DiBiase, Sr. in the group as their designated financial backer. Randy Savage was considered the only other big time star in the nWo when the shock and intrigue were still fresh on TV, and while the nWo also had some role players on the roster, no different from factions like DX, The Four Horsemen, Evolution, The Authority and The Hart Foundation circa 1997, it's also no different when role players exist just to be there like wallpaper and to just do the dirty work with zero complaints AND be willing to mop the floor (ie: gang beatdowns and run-ins) with WCW's babyfaces like Flair, Sting, Luger, DDP and Goldberg for Hogan, Nash, Hall, Savage and Bischoff.

So anyway, I will rank down the best batch of role players the original nWo has to offer, and yes, the Original nWo incarnation is considered the real nWo because of how groundbreaking they were, with Hall and Nash being used as the controversial bait hooks to get WWF fans tuning in to WCW, and Hogan as the biggest star in nWo history, as a Arcade-style Final Boss type of antagonist in the faction:

-1) The Giant [1996]: "The Giant had been built up as WCW's biggest monster heel since his WCW debut in late '95 but most of his WCW stardom came before his nWo membership came into being, so Giant was never originally intended to be the fourth member of the group. It was supposed to be the British Bulldog, due to his WWF contract expiring, and so WCW were in talks to bring Bulldog back into the fold, but Vince gave him a lucrative five-year contract to keep him in the Federation, so Giant was included as a more of a last-minute replacement type of inductee as a consolation prize for WCW being ultimately unable to sign Bulldog in 1996. Giant did in fact have a better nWo run than his later nWo Hollywood run, since all he accomplished as an original nWo member was his 1996 World War 3 battle royal win which also played a big factor in Giant being kicked out of the nWo the night after Starrcade '96 for refusing to chokeslam Piper at Hogan's behest."

-2) Syxx [1996-1998]: "The lesser known member of pro wrestling's most notorious backstage clique of master politicians, Sean Waltman was anything but a ruthless politician backstage. However, his own habitual backstage antics were why they liked the guy to begin with. Having made his debut in 1993 for the WWF as an underdog youngster who could work a good solid match, Waltman defeated Scott Hall (then known as Razor Ramon) in what many thought to be a shocking upset victory. Waltman's best years however were with the WWF, so here in WCW he's just a role player despite his friendships with Hall and Nash, and he was limited to the Cruiserweight Division fighting off the likes of Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, Dean Malenko and Chris Jericho save for an occasional matchup versus Ric Flair. He was quietly removed from the nWo in early 1998 after he incurred a neck injury in late '97 at the hands of someone who is also on this list and who would eventually become a member of the nWo

Spoiler

, and his name is "Big Poppa Pump" Scott Steiner.

"

-3) Konnan [1997-1998]: "Widely credited for bringing aboard a dozen of Luchadores and Cruiserweights to WCW, Konnan initially debuted as a cruiserweight babyface no different from Mysterio, Eddie, Chavo, Jericho and Malenko. After losing the WCW United States Championship to Ric Flair at Bash At The Beach '96, Konnan turned heel and joined up with the now-declining Dungeon of Doom. Even then, his heel run was lackluster earlier on, and it wasn't until he changed alliances and joined the New World Order in the Summer of 1997 that he changed his in-ring gameplay style from a typical generic cruiserweight to a hip-hop gangsta rap character, partly due to the nWo's coolness factor and partly also due to Konnan's back injuries, so the change in his gimmick was to cover for his declining in-ring performance. Still, Konnan would not become a prominent figure until the Hollywood/Wolfpac feud when he got to be a prominent key player alongside Nash and Sting, so here in the Original nWo, Konnan is just a role player."

-4) Buff Bagwell [1996-1998]: "Originally a babyface born and bred in World Championship Wrestling as Marcus Alexander Bagwell around 1990-91, Bagwell spent most of his early years as a tag team performer, and the only way he was going to get a sustainable run as a singles player earlier on would have to be if Sting would be willing to endorse him backstage. Seeing tag team duty during those years, Bagwell would team up with the likes of The Patriot, 2 Cold Scorpio and his former American Males tag team partner Scotty Riggs. The American Males would dissolve in late '96 once Bagwell betrayed his tag team partner, and joined the nWo, thus re-dubbing himself Buff Bagwell in the process. While in the nWo, Bagwell was mostly limited to situational tag team matches with Scott Norton as his most frequent fellow nWo teammate/quasi-tag team partner. Bagwell is a career role player whose chances of being a megastar were hindered by a combination of his reputation as a backstage troublemaker, an attitude problem who was difficult to deal with, and becoming super sloppy with his Buff Blockbuster suplex finisher despite years of having done the move just fine before. Otherwise, his 'Buff Daddy' schtick meant that he could be more than what he actually was."

-5) Curt Hennig [1997-1998]: "Best known as the World Champion of the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based American Wrestling Alliance in their dying days as a promotion, Hennig also spent the bulk of his best years wrestling for the WWF under the name Mr. Perfect. In his prime years, Hennig was a scientific wrestler who could also do awesome promos. But his prime prematurely ended in late Summer of 1991 when he had a career-altering back injury (ie: broken tailbone) that ended up rendering him as an often-injured and MIA mid-carder from the injury onwards. His entire WCW run proved that he didn't have much to give, and was running on fumes the entire time Down South. After betraying Ric Flair and The Four Horsemen at Fall Brawl '97, Hennig joined the nWo but quickly fell down the card after his WCW United States Championship belt run, and although Savage ended up being stunted down to the midcards feuding with DDP, he was still seen as a money making star, since he was capable of making role players look like actual stars, so Hennig is a career role player because he had no luxury of being more than a secondary role player. But then again, not everyone gets to be successful under the nWo banner, and nothing wrong with being a role player.

-6) Scott "Flash" Norton [1996-1998]: "One of professional wrestling's most feared tough guys you would be legit scared of working with in the ring much the same way as Meng, Scott Norton's best years overall were with the AWA and New Japan. Norton became a member of the New World Order in 1996, where his main function as a nWo role player would be to simply serve as a silent bodyguard enforcer muscle type guy. He was included because New Japan would probably want a bigger piece of the nWo pie, and by having the IWGP Champion in the mix, Norton would eventually be valuable in his own right, even if there was nothing magnificently special enough and nothing dynamic about the guy. Within the faction, Norton's most frequent tag team partner would be Buff Bagwell even though Vicious and Delicious weren't ultimately meant to be a long-term NWO tag team with The Outsiders (Hall and Nash) around."

-7) Brian Adams [1998]: "A career journeyman who had to constantly change gimmicks in the WWF, Adams was known as 'Crush' while working for the World Wrestling Federation and a stint in Portland. The many faces of Crush over the years depicted him as Ax's replacement in Demolition, a babyface Hawaiian muscle guy, an anti-American/Japanese sympathizer, criminal convict (parodied from his real-life arrest and imprisonment in 1995 for steroids and a taser gun), another Nation of Domination member and the leader of his own faction Disciples of Apocalypse (DOA) alongside "Chainz" Brian Lee, Adams moved over to WCW where he would immediately join the New World Order. His success in WCW came much later when he became a WCW Tag Team Champion alongside Bryan Clark known as KroniK, so for the nWo, Adams was just a role player. and one of the several muscle bodyguard enforcers who do the dirty work, no different than Norton."

-8) "The Disciple" Brutus Beefcake [1998]: "Best known as the most loyal best friend of Hulk Hogan over the years, he is best known for his time with the WWF in the 1980s to 1993 as Brutus Beefcake. Beefcake's original incarnation under the Brutus Beefcake schtick was a flamboyant pretty boy heel. However, Beefcake was more remembered for being the guy who is a Barber-type guy once he became a beloved fan favorite, and was the guy who lost his prominent push to Ultimate Warrior. Beefcake's prime ended in 1990 when he nearly lost his life in a parasailing accident where he was to help his female parasailer friend prepare for takeoff when the boat driver made the cue to take off without warning, sending her bare feet directly into Beefcake's face, delivering a devastating, near-fatal blow which destroyed his face. His face needed to be surgically repaired with 100+ metal plates in order to let every single facial bone to heal, so he needed to put his wrestling career on hold for two years and would not return until 1993. Beefcake's accident marked one of the rare moments the WWF broke kayfabe in the pre-Attitude Era as a real-life and potential life-threatening/life-ending injury had to be directly explained to the audience. Years later, after forgettable WCW runs as Brother Bruti, The Butcher, Man with No Name, Zodiac and The Booty Man, he would return in early 1998 as The Disciple and joined the nWo as another role player and muscle enforcer of the group alongside Norton and Adams."

-9) "Big Poppa Pump" Scott Steiner [1998]: "Before @FlairFan2003 comes on says that he doesn't like what he has to say about Scott Steiner, let me assure you all that Scott Steiner made his big-time wrestling debut in 1988-89 in the National Wrestling Alliance where he and his brother Rick became The Steiner Brothers, a powerhouse tag team who went on to wrestle all over the world whether they'd be working with the NWA/WCW, Japan, WWF and ECW. The Road Warriors and The Steiner Brothers would go on to be the biggest money making tag teams the NWA/WCW have ever had, concerning tag teams. Although he was known for his unique all-around wrestling movesets, Scott was overshadowed by his older brother Rick as a character and never truly got to progress to singles matches earlier on until 1998 when back, shoulder, nerve tissue injuries and age derailed his wrestling ability. Unlike one-dimensional guys like Norton who can't change up some, guys like Steiner, Bagwell and Konnan were all able to change gimmicks, and also be willing to readily adapt to being Sports Entertainment box office style workers. And while Steiner would go on to become a key player from the second half of 1998 onwards on his way to being a WCW World Heavyweight Champion and top draw in WCW's final months, here in the Original nWo he is just a role player who was finally getting a chance to go the singles path. However, Scott's attitude issues were well-documented, and he never again got to be a key player once WCW closed their doors in early 2001. That explains why he was only a one-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion that could've been way more than one reign besides tag team and mid-card belts, so he's considered a role player in singles competition who failed to realize his potential as his early career flashes of potential suggested."

So there you have it, those are your Original NWO role players in the best-ever nWo incarnation in terms of all the other nWo incarnations over the years. And while Bischoff was a mouthpiece/manager no different from Ted DiBiase, Vincent, Miss Elizabeth, Dennis Rodman, Rick Rude, Louie Spicolli and Dusty Rhodes, he was the sole mouthpiece/manager who was more impactful and really stood out from the rest of the managers for the long-term since the others did nothing really noteworthy while in the nWo, and like I said, before FlairFan2003 comes on and says about how much he hates Scott Steiner. I want to know the answer as to why FlairFan2003 doesn't even like Scott Steiner's overall career, especially the Big Poppa Pump phase. Does FlairFan2003 really dislike Steiner over the one simple thing all because he has anger problems and a cancerous locker room malcontent? Because I've never seen someone who is as much of an obviously bigger Ric Flair mark than FlairFan2003, and to him, he doesn't like Steiner for some reason because he's too much of a bar brawler type of tough guy.

Take your pick in regards to who you really think is the best secondary member of the nine best role players and semi-stars the nWo has had to offer besides Hogan, Nash, Hall, Savage and Bischoff.

 

[TEIWCSCSAATBHPHASP]

UPDATE:

Actually, most of Steiner's backstage stories are blown out of proportion/taken out of context, and when he's not in his Big Poppa Pump character, he's actually a down-to-earth type of guy with legitimate anger problems. Furthermore, at least when Scott was a jerk even early on during his days as the awesome mullet-haired wrestler, fighting with Bill Watts, Ric Flair, Marcus Bagwell, Ricky Steamboat, Jacques Rougeau and Vince McMahon were all within the realm of plausible Scott Steiner behavior so at least he had a good reason to be a jerk. What FlairFan2003 doesn't accept however is when Scott Steiner (once he finally became a singles performer) becomes consistently selfish to the point that he becomes a jerk for no reason, and fighting with Ted Turner, Buff Bagwell, J.J. Dillon, Diamond Dallas Page, Kimberly, Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Vince McMahon and Eric Bischoff to the point of being an incredibly downright hateful inhumane sub-human jerk with zero logical sense in his brain, compared to his early days as a mere mildly immature mullet-haired wrestler who wasn't aware he was being mean to certain people and also was considered to be somewhat of a stiff worker as evident against countless jobbers. Late 1997 was an example of the realization there was going to be a character change for Scott Steiner that would not go away that easily. It wasn't a trainwreck, but this is the first point where I begin feeling things actually steering more in the Big Poppa Pump direction. Post-SuperBrawl VIII (8) would be the time Scott Steiner's heel turn took him to another level in jerkiness in having Steiner carry the nWo midcarders with his tiring heel antics.

I have to admit that as boring as Scotty Steiner was when he still had the mullet, all he had going for him character-wise was being an everyman besides Rick Steiner's younger brother. When he could still wrestle solid matches, Scott was depicted as an everyman face who even though he is a below-average babyface, his everyman trait could be endearing to the audience. Nobody remembers that when Scott was supposed to have his original heel run in late 1992, Scott turned against Marcus Bagwell during a tag match against The Hollywood Blondes (Steve Austin and Brian Pillman), and was supposed to cement the heel turn with a one-on-one match against Ricky Steamboat for the WCW TV Championship Belt, but it never happened since Scott shook hands with Steamboat post-match. Funny thing is, many people like to see wrestling in black and white of the simplistic faces vs heels, but in this case, early-era babyface Scott Steiner seemed like an everyman with a gray area. His prime years as Big Poppa Pump from 1998 to 2001, I would dub the era of "Jerkass Steiner".

 

[TEIWCSCSAATBHPHASP]

Update 2:

The reason I would dub the 1998-2001 era of "Jerkass Steiner" is because he'll just go off and snap backstage without warning, doing unauthorized shoot promos on Ric Flair and Kimberly, and fighting DDP while WCW management made zero effort to discipline him to the point that Scott dumbed himself down and started being a jerk just for the sake of being an intentional jerk. In fact, Scott was actually rewarded with a main event push in an unusual manner by virtue of Time Warner being afraid to stand up to him and his jerkiness wasn't put in its place like his early years. Like I said, some say Scott Steiner's ego reared its ugly head when the Attitude Era commenced, and Scott was characterised as a full on wacky quasi-Grand Theft Auto/HBO hybrid adult character and also an outright pornographic cartoon character doing wacky outright vulgar antics as Big Poppa Pump, rather than the funny, dumb, inconsiderate oaf at times, and mere mildly immature but mostly good-intentioned everyman Scott Steiner smarks loved.

By the time Scott Steiner returned to WWE, Vince McMahon could sense that there was something wrong with him, and a combination of Vince McMahon fixing Steiner to turn around his behavioral issues along with him having children and his near-life ending torn throat trachea injury in 2007 all contributed to him eventually mellowing out to the point that nowadays there's a minimum amount of Steiner's jerkiness making the headlines for the wrong reasons.

 

[FlairFan2003]

So Im not sure why you are singling ME out, and in fact I cant make heads or tales of your criticism, are you ANTI Steiner who in one career period you describe as a "Jerkass" or are you supporting him and criticizing me ??

I think Ive gone on record before and stated Steiner was red hot in his initial "Big Poppa Pump" role, in fact I think he was more over with the audience as a whole then than at any other time in his career. The Steiner Bros tag team was popular but Pump was way over, a unique & very memorable character. Steiner previously was a non factor on the mic but in his new personna he brought it, and crowds loved it. Ive never criticized Steiner's creativity in this role nor have I disputed his popularity. His reported hostile backstage behavior which included harrassing Kimberly & beating up DDP are separate issues.

Ive been critical of how nasty Steiner has been to several people in the business including Ric Flair (who got him his job and initial push to begin with), Hulk Hogan (who authorized his induction into the NwO and huge push), Eric Bischoff (who helped create the Big Poppa Pump Character, crafted his giant singles push, and gave him a giant pay raise), Vince McMahon (who brought Steiner back to WWE after The Steiners left on bad terms a decade earlier and despite all the negative behind the scenes horror stories). None of that changes the fact that between 97-01 Steiner's character was huge with the audience and his work on the mic was drastically improved.

People can argue Hulk Hogan is selfish but you cant dispute his success for instance, they are separate things.

Ive also stated that I feel the NwO deserves an induction into the HOF, and that while I dont agree every member who had a tenure there deserves that honor (no Bagwell, Konan, Horace, Brett Hart, Lex Luger, Sting, Savage, all with tenures either too brief or inconsequential) I HAVE stated in other posts that the group that should get induction is Hogan, Hall, Nash, Bischoff, & Steiner. Just as Ive advocated that Ole Anderson & Lex Luger should have been included in The Four Horsemen induction (which they werent for different reasons).

So are you criticizing me for defending Steiner's character or for being critical of some of his off camera behavior like his disruption at the WWE HOF ceremony a year ago and public displays towards Hogan ? Your above posts dont make it clear.

As for your initial question, I think that Syxx & Buff Bagwell were solid contributors to the Nwo storyline (more than Konan, Horace, or Norton), I would actually pick Steiner as the biggest star from the group outside the original Big 3, edging out Curt Henning who had huge intro into the group and then faded quickly due to a variety of issues.

I welcome anyone who respectfully disagrees with me to debate.

 

[relentless1]

I wouldn't really cal Syxx a secondary member, he was a premier member of the faction, a original Wolfpac member, a Kliq member and one of their more consistent wrestlers along with Scott Hall; able to put on a good match at any time. If you'll notice when they gave the nWo add ons separate entrance music Syxx kept the original nWo theme along with Hall Nash Hollywood and Macho Man.

 

[TEIWCSCSAATBHPHASP]

So Im not sure why you are singling ME out, and in fact I cant make heads or tales of your criticism, are you ANTI Steiner who in one career period you describe as a "Jerkass" or are you supporting him and criticizing me ??

I think Ive gone on record before and stated Steiner was red hot in his initial "Big Poppa Pump" role, in fact I think he was more over with the audience as a whole then than at any other time in his career. The Steiner Bros tag team was popular but Pump was way over, a unique & very memorable character. Steiner previously was a non factor on the mic but in his new persona he brought it, and crowds loved it. Ive never criticized Steiner's creativity in this role nor have I disputed his popularity. His reported hostile backstage behavior which included harrassing Kimberly & beating up DDP are separate issues.

Ive been critical of how nasty Steiner has been to several people in the business including Ric Flair (who got him his job and initial push to begin with), Hulk Hogan (who authorized his induction into the NwO and huge push), Eric Bischoff (who helped create the Big Poppa Pump character, crafted his giant singles push, and gave him a giant pay raise), Vince McMahon (who brought Steiner back to WWE after The Steiners left on bad terms a decade earlier and despite all the negative behind the scenes horror stories). None of that changes the fact that between 97-01 Steiner's character was huge with the audience and his work on the mic was drastically improved.

People can argue Hulk Hogan is selfish but you cant dispute his success for instance, they are separate things.

Ive also stated that I feel the NwO deserves an induction into the HOF, and that while I dont agree every member who had a tenure there deserves that honor (no Bagwell, Konan, Horace, Brett Hart, Lex Luger, Sting, Savage, all with tenures either too brief or inconsequential) I HAVE stated in other posts that the group that should get induction is Hogan, Hall, Nash, Bischoff, & Steiner. Just as Ive advocated that Ole Anderson & Lex Luger should have been included in The Four Horsemen induction (which they werent for different reasons).

So are you criticizing me for defending Steiner's character or for being critical of some of his off camera behavior like his disruption at the WWE HOF ceremony a year ago and public displays towards Hogan ? Your above posts dont make it clear.

As for your initial question, I think that Syxx & Buff Bagwell were solid contributors to the nWo storyline (more than Konnan, Disciple or Norton), I would actually pick Steiner as the biggest star from the group outside the original Big 3 and Savage, edging out Curt Hennig who had huge intro into the group and then faded quickly due to a variety of issues.

I welcome anyone who respectfully disagrees with me to debate.

@FlairFan2003 : I'm actually a pro-Scott Steiner and a big time Scott Steiner fan much the same way you're a fan of Ric Flair and a pro-Flair guy, both as Scotty Steiner and Big Poppa Pump. I read through your posts, and at first, I thought you were taking shots at Scott Steiner but then I realized you only did that because you don't like his Trump-esque attitude towards Flair, Hogan, Bischoff and Vince.

I wonder what you think about one of my notions (from my perception about what you might have thought about Steiner) that Scott Steiner turned into a wacky Grand Theft Auto/HBO hybrid adult cartoon character and outright pornographically vulgar sub-human by the time Attitude Era commenced? It all adds up to the fact that Steiner as Big Poppa Pump was blurring the lines between kayfabe and reality, because the Big Poppa Pump persona is just basically Scott Steiner's real-life persona amplified up to 11. Your statement about Steiner harassing Kimberly, fighting DDP, and feuding with Flair, Hogan, Bischoff and Vince (after the 2000s WWE run) does in fact raise valid points, because while I sadly have to agree with you about that one career period timeframe which is why I dubbed him Jerkass Steiner. I'm not saying I hate him as a person, in fact I love his entire career and give him mad respect props for looking out for his brother Rick. When you referred to Scott's hostile backstage behavior, that was also an example of the one career period timeframe I just accurately described to you.

However, when I stated that even the young Scotty Steiner (with the mullet) was a jerk too except his jerkiness was seen in small doses but never was it so full blown that it became a problem. Unlike the later years, Scott at the time was a mere mildly immature but mostly good-intentioned everyman, and you would've thought that Scott Steiner had good reason to fight Bill Watts, Marcus Bagwell, Ricky Steamboat, Ric Flair, Jacques Rougeau and Vince McMahon considering Watts hated him, Flair sandbagged him and Vince (like Watts) wanted Scott to break up with Rick only for Scott to balk and leave with Rick. For that, I commend him for looking out for Rick, and the early career timeframe. Therefore those incidents were within the realm of plausible Scott Steiner behavior.

What I thought you didn't accept (in regards to Steiner's real-life, off-camera problems) however is when Steiner becomes consistently selfish, where even people can't control him. He didn't care. He had no desire to improve himself. His morals were completely violated for the sake of the joke. Steiner's crude humor was priority. The balance between his once good-hearted self from the early years and the natural selfishness becomes unbalanced and stays that way. There was no ground to hold Steiner within the universe of WCW. It's like civility and backstage morale didn't matter anymore in their company, so Steiner got to do whatever he wants like become WCW World Heavyweight Champion in their dying days.

 

[TEIWCSCSAATBHPHASP]

Update:

And @FlairFan2003, when you stated in your one post about the background of WCW legends post-buyout, you said Hall, Hennig and Steiner were the ones with bad reputations in the wrestling industry. Hennig was nicer out of those three guys despite injuries and substance abuse issues, Steiner was a problematic performer, divisive locker room cancer, and a downright non-conformist to work with, thus factoring Steiner as an uncoachable worker; and Hall I don't know what you think about Hall beyond alcoholism. I don't recall Hall being a bully apart from being with The Kliq, otherwise Hall seems pretty harmless since he doesn't play politics on a grander scale like his fellow Kliq contemporaries Kevin Nash, Triple H or Shawn Michaels all do, and I am not sure if Hall is a bigger jerk than Steiner in person, but Hall seems to be endearing moreso than Steiner because Hall was there for sick children, especially his appearance on the Jerry Springer show in 1996.

According to many Scott Steiner also had potential to be more than Big Poppa Pump, but that's his best peak. Scott Steiner's wrestling career overall is a mixed bag at best. That explains why he never reached the heights he was originally intended to live up to, until his body started breaking down.

 

[FlairFan2003]

Update:

And @FlairFan2003, when you stated in your one post about the background of WCW legends post-buyout, you said Hall, Hennig and Steiner were the ones with bad reputations in the wrestling industry. Hennig was nicer out of those three guys despite injuries and substance abuse issues, Steiner was a problematic performer, divisive locker room cancer, and a downright non-conformist to work with, thus factoring Steiner as an uncoachable worker; and Hall I don't know what you think about Hall beyond alcoholism. I don't recall Hall being a bully apart from being with The Kliq, otherwise Hall seems pretty harmless since he doesn't play politics on a grander scale like his fellow Kliq contemporaries Kevin Nash, Triple H or Shawn Michaels all do, and I am not sure if Hall is a bigger jerk than Steiner in person, but Hall seems to be endearing moreso than Steiner because Hall was there for sick children, especially his appearance on the Jerry Springer show in 1996.

According to many Scott Steiner also had potential to be more than Big Poppa Pump, but that's his best peak. Scott Steiner's wrestling career overall is a mixed bag at best. That explains why he never reached the heights he was originally intended to live up to, until his body started breaking down.

Well, its been written many times that in the early days of the WWE buyout of WCW that guys like Henning, Steiner, & Hall were not priorities due to their behind the scenes reps. Nothing groundbreaking there, pretty much just a re hash of documented history. Other stars made it clear that they preferred to continue collecting on their Time Warner contracts rather than take a buyout at less value to join WWE. DDP was the only "big salary" guy who took the financial loss & joined WWE out of the gate. I dont think any of that says anything negative or positive about those people, they were money decissions by all involved (Vince could have matched all The Time Warner deals & he chose not too).

As recently as last year wasnt Steiner thrown out of a WWE HOF event (after a nasty airport confrontation with Hogan's girlfriend) which lead to Steiner being detained by the police and later to a series of vitrol filled interviews by Steiner about why he hates Hogan so much ? Its not like Steiner only had a brief career period of "questionable" behavoir for instance, its been a decades long issue with him, abetted a bit now by the lack of interest in him as a national figure. That has nothing to do with any talent he previously displayed or success he had.

 

[TEIWCSCSAATBHPHASP]

Well, its been written many times that in the early days of the WWF buyout of WCW that guys like Hennig, Steiner, & Hall were not priorities due to their behind the scenes reps. Nothing groundbreaking there, pretty much just a re hash of documented history. Other stars made it clear that they preferred to continue collecting on their Time Warner contracts rather than take a buyout at less value to join the WWF. DDP was the only "big salary" guy who took the financial loss & joined WWF out of the gate. I dont think any of that says anything negative or positive about those people, they were money decisions by all involved (Vince could have matched all the Time Warner deals & he chose not too).

As recently as last year wasn't Steiner thrown out of a WWE HOF event (after a nasty airport confrontation with Hogan's girlfriend) which lead to Steiner being detained by the police and later to a series of vitriol filled interviews by Steiner about why he hates Hogan so much ? It's not like Steiner only had a brief career period of "questionable" behavior for instance, its been a decades long issue with him, abetted a bit now by the lack of interest in him as a national figure. That has nothing to do with any talent he previously displayed or success he had.

@FlairFan2003 : As for Hall, Hennig and Steiner (and maybe Luger and Savage to a degree) being considered lesser priorities, you forgot to respond to me regarding Hall's problems apart from his alcoholism which counts as Hall's variation of substance abuse, whereas Hennig's was a lethal mixture of alcohol and cocaine abuse. Luger wasn't satisfied at the end of WCW's existence hence him letting himself go out of shape, and I am not sure why Savage was considered less of a priority like Hall, Hennig, Steiner and Luger.

And since Hennig (despite substance abuse issues) didn't have a bad reputation for being difficult in regards to working with talent, I don't recall Scott Hall ever being a bully, except for his association with The Kliq where 60% of those guys like Nash, HHH and Michaels were all master politicians, whereas Hall was not into politics. That indicates that Hall might be somewhat nicer backstage since like I said, Hall appeared on Jerry Springer in 1996 to show his support for sick children.

At the end of the day, Hall and Hennig got inducted to the WWE Hall of Fame while Steiner remains the only one of the lesser priorities that is blackballed from a solo induction to the WWE HOF unless it's a nWo induction or with his brother Rick, makes me wonder what you have to say about whether Scott Hall is worse than this increasingly inhumane non-conformist rebel, but you never responded to me in regards to Hall being either difficult or less difficult than Steiner. Someone left a comment on a YouTube video stating that he/she wants the old Scott Steiner to come back, yes the Scott Steiner who used to be simply a mildly immature but mostly good well-intentioned everyman who cared about his brother Rick before Scott became the Invincible Jerkass who only cared about himself and could care less about Rick, which lasted for several years until his return to WWE stripped away the Invincibility aura from the now-formerly Invincible Jerkass who was blatantly allowed to get away with being rewarded with main event pushes via pure threats without playing the petty underhanded politics game like Hogan, Nash and Flair all do.

I will now move on to allow @Makaveli31 the chance to debunk all my posts about Scott Steiner the next time Makaveli comes on and logs in to WrestleZone.

 

[relentless1]

Vincent. Hands down.

he was able to take quite a beating. And consistently too!

 

[TEIWCSCSAATBHPHASP]

he was able to take quite a beating. And consistently too!

But @relentless1, Vincent was mainly a manager most of his time with the nWo, so he's not on this list. Hogan, Nash, Hall, Savage and Bischoff were the key players for the Original nWo. Giant, Syxx, Bagwell, Norton, Konnan, Hennig, Adams, Beefcake and Steiner were just role players for the Original nWo.

And sure, Bischoff is a manager just like DiBiase, Vincent, Elizabeth, Rude, Spicolli and Dusty, but only Bischoff stood out more over the long-term than the others, and especially if Bischoff had more value than the worthless Vincent.

 

[Spencesc11]

Hennig turning on the 4 Horseman at the PPV was priceless. Great moment for sure.

 

[LBGetBack]

he was able to take quite a beating. And consistently too!

Absolutely! Don't know why my post was deleted. Vincent was around for a long time..he joined pretty early on. And he absolutely served a purpose, in taking those ass whippings.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

No idea why I'm the only vote for Scott Norton yet, but trust me when I tell you that the inclusion of Scott Norton gave the nWo its enforcer - an imposing, internationally recognized gravitas than few other superstars outside of WWF-bound Big Van Vader gave them.

I've often referred to Norton as the best wrestler to never win a major American World Title. He took an even greater back seat with the folks in WCW and the nWo at the time, but his participation in the nWo made that organization stronger and scarier - perhaps at the expense of himself.

 

[relentless1]

Norton was a huge boon for the nWo... eps always been one of my favourites, but he didn't really come into his own as a destroyer until 1998 really. I wish he has been pushed as an nWo enforcer for real, he'd have made a great TV or US champ at some point

 

[TEIWCSCSAATBHPHASP]

Norton was a huge boon for the nWo... eps always been one of my favourites, but he didn't really come into his own as a destroyer until 1998 really. I wish he has been pushed as an nWo enforcer for real, he'd have made a great TV or US champ at some point

Scott Norton wasn't really one of the nWo's top guys. He was the top guy only for New Japan when he was the IWGP Champion in 1998, and that was when he had the shaved head buzzcut thing instead of the long hair he chopped off mid-year. Norton wasn't all that great as far as his role and potential trajectory goes, but you also can't kick him out of the nWo either. It's like, WCW didn't know what to do with a guy who alternates time between WCW and Japan frequently rather than a full-time WCW performer.